DIY No-Sew Adoption Countdown Garland

I am so thrilled to share a piece of my sweet, sweet friend’s international adoption journey with all of you. Watching her go through the international adoption process has been a humbling experience for me. You guys. They’ve navigated so many heart-wrenching questions and decisions with such grace. And they’ve also had a crazy amount of paperwork, waiting, and other hurdles to work through in the process. So finally (!!!) in the coming months, they will travel to China to bring home their son. They are soon-to-be a family of four! Their older son will stay home with grandma and grandpa as he awaits big brother status!

My friend has SO many things to do to prepare for this child to join their family. At the top of her list is helping big brother during his “waiting period” at home. We thought something visual, like an advent calendar or other countdown type thing would be age-appropriate for him. He’s only two, so it needs to be simple to understand and easy for grandma. I’m sharing about a super simple, super cute adoption countdown garland for big brother below. We hope it amps up the excitement for his “big brother” role (being a big brother is a BIG deal!) and also helps him cope with and understand bigger questions like: “where is mommy/daddy/little bro” and “when will they be home”!? Read below for the details.

Supplies You’ll Need

This craft was simple enough for my three-year old to help with. Let’s look at the supplies involved:

Burlap gift bags

Felt number stickers OR felt and hot glue gun

Pom Poms and glue

Clothespins

Twine

Assembling the Adoption Countdown Garland

Put the felt numbers onto the burlap gift bags.We used stickers so my three-year-old could really help with this process. Apart from me telling her which numbers to use, she did this on her own. You could also purchase felt sheets from the craft store, cut out the numbers, and hot glue them to the bags.

Decorate the clothespins. This step is not required at all. But, I wanted this garland to LOOK festive, special and exciting to little eyes. At the same time, I also wanted my daughter to experience making this gift for her friend – to really personalize this gift as a gesture of our love for our sweet friends. My daughter loved dipping the pom poms into the glue. It was, by far, her favorite part.

Hang the garland! Hang the garland usiing the clothespins and heavy twine, and you’re done! Easy-peasy.

Using the Adoption Countdown Garland

The great thing about this garland is it’s versatility. The bags can hold a small treat or gift for big brother to open each day his family is gone. The clothespins can also hold a note or photo (or both!!) from mommy and daddy. Pinning a note or photo to the bag as each day passes is an easy visual way to show the days “counting down”, like so:

How adorable is this?? This garland would work well for other countdowns too: Christmas countdown, vacation countdown, birthday countdown. You name it! Happy crafting, friends!

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